The first Humble school board candidate forum was held April 1

Published 7:00 pm, Wednesday, April 9, 2003

Candidates running for position one are Aaron Clevenson, the incumbent, Dave Martin and Mike Snider.

Position two candidates are the incumbent John Graves and Murray Smith.

The incumbent Bonnie Longnion is being challenged by Dennis Clauder for position three.

Allan Griffin, an Humble ISD employee, moderated the event, which was co-sponsored by the Association of Professional Educators and the Humble ISD Council of PTA's.

After each candidate gave introductory remarks, Griffin asked for their views regarding House Bill 580, introduced in the Legislature by Representative Joe Nixon of Houston.

The controversial bill would abolish the University Interscholastic League (UIL) and open interscholastic competition to private schools.

"What's your position on House Bill 580 which would do away with the UIL," Griffin asked.

Clevenson said, "I've looked at the bill and I am concerned about what they are proposing. I think UIL program has brought structure and consistency to the programs we offer. There are provisions in the bill that are excessively restrictive."

Clevenson, a long-time science fair supporter and volunteer, and his wife Barbara Madera have one daughter who is in eighth grade. He is a computer consultant with Accenture.

Martin, a father of three who coaches many youth sports teams in Kingwood, is adamantly opposed to the bill. He and his wife Julie are actively involved with the YMCA. He is the director in the Houston office of Ernst and Young, LLP.

Martin began by explaining the contents of the bill.

"I am totally against H.B. 580," said Martin. "For those of you who don't understand what H.B. 580 is, it would replace UIL, which regulates interscholastic competition, with the Texas Schoolchildren's Academic and Athletic Commission made up of state appointed members. If you open up state funding of interscholastic competition to private schools, this will assure that your state dollars will go to supporting those private school athletic needs."

Similarly, Mike Snider opposes the bill.

Snider and his wife Susan are residents of Kingwood. They have one daughter who attends Hidden Hollow Elementary School.

Graves, Smith, Clauder and Longnion also oppose the bill.

During a lighter moment, Smith responded to a question regarding term limits for board members.

"I think there should be term limits for position two," quipped Smith.

Smith, a resident of Atascocita is a lieutenant with the Houston Police Department homicide division. He and his wife Karen have three children enrolled in HISD.

Graves, an 18-year member of the board, opposes term limits.

Both Smith and Graves responded to a question about bond projects.

"Are we moving ahead quickly enough?" said Griffin.

Graves said, "The reason why renovations are not being done at the existing high schools is financial. If we can wait until the new high schools are completed, then we can go back in and do the remodeling that is needed. If we do not do that we will have to move several temporary buildings moved on site to house those students at a cost to the district."

Smith, who served on both of the bond committee and bond review committee, argued that the renovations could be better managed.

"I think we need new ideas. We have a number of people in the community familiar with construction management. I think we should have them assist our small overworked staff and speed up some of these repairs.

Martin, who also served on the bond review committee, agreed that the renovations to Kingwood and Humble High should begin.

"The repairs and renovations need to begin immediately," said Martin. "We're already a year behind. Do it and do it now."

Martin added that property value in Humble and Kingwood will be adversely effected by delaying the projects.

Snider weighed in on the issue.

"I was a Spanish teacher. I was in the middle of a master's degree when I went out on the road with Jose Feliciano as a manager or PR guy. During rehearsals we would get to a song and everyone knew it s*****. And he would just stop. He would say, 'I may be blind but I'm not stupid.' Over 10,000 people turned out to defeat the first bond. If you serve on the board, you should be able to gauge the sentiments of the community. To say that we can't do this is to say that the people I worked with on the construction committee didn't know what they were doing."

If the state cuts funds for public schools, candidates were asked what they would cut out of the district's budget.

Snider was first to respond.

"We could look at a curriculum and development cut," said Snider. "That's a $3 million line item. We need to take care of the teachers first."

Clevenson said, "I would hope we would find creative ways to avoid cuts if possible. Worse case? My expectations are things that have minimal impact on students, teachers in the classroom and curriculum."

Martin responded saying, "Right now we have an unreserved, undesignated general fund with a total $16 million in there. We need to preserve this fund. This is our rainy day money. In the 2002-03 budget, we already made approximately $6.5 million in cuts. The first part of the equation is administrative cuts. The second part is business partnerships."

Graves said, "Everything that we spend right now is there for a purpose. The important thing is that the educational process does not get damaged. Good technology will improve the way we deliver education."

Graves added that by implementing centralized learning, several positions could be eliminated.

Graves' opponent responded. "As far as cuts go, I think it's what we retain first rather than what we cut," said Smith. "As a board, the role would be to make sure that the process is as inclusive as possible to get the committees involved, the teachers involved, and the schools involved. When we make those decisions, we make them openly and with honest debate."

Several programs could be cut if funding decreases, said Clauder.

Longnion believes that the district will have to be creative about solutions to funding problems.

The candidates were asked what their solution would be if the state cuts employee health supplements, which is $1,000 per employee.

Graves said, "Basically I've said that we start with zero- based budget. Which says there is nothing in this district that we'll spend money on. Then we'll build from there the priorities, based on the needs in our district, teacher compensation and rising health care costs."

Smith said, "I hesitate to make any promises with the financial uncertainty facing our district. But if we're going to talk about teachers being our most valuable asset, we need to act accordingly, not only in what we say, but how we act. I think it would be unconscionable to pass a health increase onto a teacher's pay. It's a very difficult issue that will have to be examined."